What’s the Dress Code of India?

A recent altercation between a Judge and a Bureaucrat during a court hearing shed limelight on the expected dress code in India. Here are a couple of quoted lines pulled out from previous instances.

“When you come to court there should be a proper dress code. Formal dress means at least a coat. And collar should not be open. Do you think this is a cinema hall? They don’t know how to appear in the court?”

“Do you allow a person wearing slippers, dhoti or casual dress in your office?”

It takes us to the question, What’s the Dress Code of India?

To answer that, we have to bring our eyes from the high pedestal above the clouds back to the ground. Are our systemic functionalities detached from the ground reality that a majority of Indians never owned a coat or suit in their entire life? How many in India can afford to buy all those expensive suits with branded labels?

If a farmer wearing dhoti and slippers walks into a Government office to put forward a grievance, should they be reprimanded for not following a dress-code? This was the very apprehension of the “half-naked fakir” Mohandas Gandhi, when penned down his Hind Swaraj in 1909. He quoted that the real essence of freedom lies in not just sending Englishman away from the land, but also from our minds. If we don’t, we as well rename our country to Englistan.

What’s superior in wearing a suit and inferior in tying a dhoti?

What’s superior in wearing a skirt and inferior in draping a saree?

These inferior notions pushed India into a dark age of oppression for 400 years. Unfortunately, the colonial remnants are very much active in India today, especially the norms that oppressed Indians.

An individual’s clothing should be decided by 3 factors – occasion, climate, and comfort.

In the blazing summers of Indian weather, wearing a coat makes no sense. Dhoti forever has been a part of the Indian dress code. From our fathers to politicians, we see everyone cherishing dhoti. We Indians take absolute pride in our culture and clothing. They have been the identity of India in carving its niche in the current world. Our handlooms come in different fabrics, shapes, and sizes. Amidst all the cultural richness of India, it is regressive to quote that a coat is the only prescribed dress-code. Yes, there is definitely a definition to appropriate dress code as per occasion. But for sure, a coat can’t be made a compulsory part of it.

If we are imitating the western world, are women expected to dress up in suits and skirts every day? On the scale of “decency”, wouldn’t a comfortable saree drape or chudidar kurti score higher compared to the western dress-code norms?

If we are waiting for every person in India to walk into a Government building wearing a coat to voice their problems, we as well shut shop. We are successfully failing at running a system. If bureaucrats are going through a dress-shaming in the public light, I wonder what the plight of common people who embrace the centuries-old culture of India is?

India does not have a formally prescribed dress code in any of the rule books. But if there is one lurking under the pages, it’s time we change it.